STRATEGIC VISION FOR THE FOOD INDUSTRY

Excite everyone with the ambition of your category vision

The Differential is a food consultancy that thinks long-term.

Everyone else is thinking about the next year ahead. We aren’t.

We’re not about quick wins, we’re about transformation.

We believe that when everyone else is fighting it out for the low-hanging fruit, you win by aiming higher.

We’re here to help you:

Think ahead. We free you from the prison of the endless short-term planning cycle.

Break decision paralysis. We simplify complex problems, so you can take decisive action.

Stand out. We help ambitious businesses find opportunity in the places competitors think are too difficult to reach.

We specialise in:

Category Visions

What your category should be striving for in the next 5-10 years, and how you go about making it happen.

Innovation Pipelines

Gamechanging product and service roadmapping for the short-, medium-, and long-term.

Confronting Elephants

Strategies to tackle the “elephants in the room” that are getting in the way of decisive action.

And this is how we do it:

Contextualise insights

Deep expertise in consumer and macro insights allow us to select the most impactful for your business. We then place things into the bigger picture - what are the societal shifts you need to be aware of?

Shape strategy

Insights are critical to strategy - whether it’s about vision, innovation, or something else. Great strategy is choosing what not to focus on. We help you narrow your focus to the really big-impact issues.

Win buy-in

The best strategy in the world will fail if it can’t be communicated in a compelling way. We use a storytelling style to engage stakeholders of all levels and ensure they’re ready for your change.

Our promise. We will:

Be straight with you

We talk honestly, and free from BS. “Unlocking” is something you do with doors, not growth. We won’t say “headwinds & tailwinds” to sound fancy. And if we don’t know the answer to something, we’ll say that.

Face into challenges

It’s easy to ignore the challenge on the horizon, but pretending it doesn’t exist won’t make it go away. We believe great strategy needs to confront big challenges, and that nothing cannot be overcome.

Confront the orthodoxy

Too much of the industry is bland, samey, me-too. Too many things happen “because they’ve always been done this way.” We’re called The Differential for a reason. We’re here to help you stand out.

Embrace optimism

The future can feel like a scary place, but it’s also something that you have the power to shape. We approach projects with the mindset that with the right ideas and mentality you can WIN.

Ready for your new vision?

About the founder…

My name is Mark Whalley. And if it’s true that 10,000 hours makes you an expert in something, then I became an expert in food & drink insights a long time ago.

I’ve run the food & drink research function at GlobalData Consumer, and led the insight programme for Greencore’s Food-For-Later business. I’ve also consulted for some of the biggest names in FMCG (and some of the smaller ones too). Insight, strategy, and innovation are my life’s work.

I’ve heard too many times that companies are fed up of being stuck firefighting in the short-term. I want to help change that. I founded The Differential to focus on the big picture: to help businesses think years ahead, and to get everyone excited about the possibilities for growth.

I have a knack for simplifying the complex. I question everything. I think differently. And, at the end of it all, I can tell the story of the journey.

  • "Mark helped us to create a consumer framework that has been absolutely invaluable to us over the past year. This framework features at the forefront of every customer, supplier and brand partner presentation we do. It has helped us create a vision statement that our whole business aligns to, works as a decision-making funnel, and is the cornerstone of our innovation plans."

    Michelle Rowley, Brand & Product Director, The Flava People

  • "I’ve worked with Mark for several years and consider him the most effective communicator of insights I have ever met. The work he has done for us provided real clarity of thought and action-focused recommendations, all conveyed in an engaging way."

    Ben Kisby, Group Head of Category & Insight, Finsbury Food Group

  • “Mark has a natural talent for capturing the Zeitgeist in his unique, dry style, whilst cutting through the waffle to tell you what you need to DO to deliver the solution."

    Chris Needle, Managing Director, Manor Fresh